Press Story

Responding to the announcement by British Gas that they will raise their energy tariffs, Reg Platt, Senior Research Fellow at think tank IPPR, said:

"There's more pain to come for bill payers as British Gas follows SSE by announcing an inflation-busting increase to energy tariffs. The focus today shouldn't be on reforming the government's policies. It should be on why British Gas is delivering them so poorly.

"British Gas wants the government to reform policies that provide energy efficiency improvements to low income households to help them with the high cost of bills. But a third of today's tariff increase, or £35 a year, could have been avoided if British Gas delivered the government's energy efficiency policies as cost effectively as SSE.

"What's more, SSE and British Gas are both under investigation by the energy markets regulator Ofgem for failing to deliver the government's energy efficiency policies effectively in the past. The amount other companies are spending on the government's policies is likely to be lower."

Notes to editors:

IPPR analysis of SSE's tariff rise last week showed that increases in government policies were responsible for £15 of the increase.

British Gas have claimed that increases in the costs of government policies are responsible for £50 of the £123 tariff increase they have announced today.

SSE are delivering their policies in a way that adds £35 less to the average bill than British Gas.

Ofgem is currently investigating SSE, British Gas and a number of other energy companies for failing to deliver their obligations under previous energy efficiency policies.

Analysis in IPPR's report 'Energy Efficiency: Who Pays and Who Benefits' showed that of the 'Big 6' energy companies, British Gas and SSE were the worst at delivering the government's previous energy efficiency policy, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. It also showed how the cost to suppliers of delivering energy efficiency policies has been far lower in the past than was expected by the Government. The report is available here: http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/10051/energy-efficiency-who-pays-and-who-benefits